Category Radio Isn’t Dead

Moving to a new place takes up a lot of time, and it’s the reason I haven’t posted here for over a month. In the interim, I have written some things about new releases for Other Music in New York, and if you’re interested in reading any of that, you should check out their weekly […]

Here’s part two of the Laughtrack monthly mix series. February was all over the place for me; there are lots of new records I want to check out and a lot of older records that I don’t want to stop listening to. I think I listened exclusively to Loscil’s Plume for over a week, and […]

Just a quick notice: I’ll be DJing tomorrow morning, Monday March the 7th, on WZBC 90.3 FM. You can tune in using a radio, or stream the audio by visiting the WZBC streaming page. Most MP3 players should work, including iTunes and Winamp. We’re also listed under the iTunes college radio tab. I’ll be playing […]

Many thanks to Richard Tarantino, who came into the studio with me on the 3rd to spin some of his favorite jazz selections. Many of the songs played during the show were his picks, and he was the guy with all the knowledge, musical and otherwise. Sun Ra and Charles Mingus, along with the later […]

taken January 16, 1958, off Trinidade Island Last week’s show had a loose theme: songs, bands, albums, or lyrics that refer to science, science fiction, monsters, and various other unexplained or mythological phenomena, especially UFO sightings. I’ve been obsessed with UFOs since I was a little kid and after watching some movies about aliens and […]

Been a long time since I’ve updated the site, but there’s plenty of stuff to chat about. Just wish there were more time to chat about it. Specifically, there’s a new Jack Rose EP coming out on Thrill Jockey on June 15th, featuring his guitar work with the talents of Charles D. Speer & The […]

I remember seeing The B-52s on MTV growing up and wondering why anybody would want to listen to them. “Just look at the way they dress, and who wants to listen to songs that happy?” I thought they were just a goof-off band, which meant I lost out on a bunch of good music. A […]

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the site, mainly because I’m lazy, but also because I’ve been reading textbooks enough to make me hate words. But here we are with an update: this is the show from two weeks ago, which features a couple of cuts from the new Bonnie Billy/Cairo Gang LP, […]

I’ve wanted to play the blues on WZBC for awhile now. Knowing that there is no regular blues show at the station and that only one or two other members ever broadcast the stuff just made the desire stronger. Following Jack Rose’s death I read about his fascination with pre-WW2 blues and folk music and […]

A simple set this week. I came to the studio early, but completely unprepared. I grabbed a bunch of records from the ZBC archives and a few CDs and just started going. I gravitated to a bunch of stuff I know I’ve played before, but I didn’t bring a single album into the studio with […]

Plenty of stuff to talk about this week, though very little of it is new. We’ll get that new stuff out of the way, first: the studio’s phones lit up like crazy early on in the show thanks to the new Jeffrey Lee Pierce tribute record out on Glitterhouse. We Are Only Riders features musicians […]

Piano Magic is a loose conglomerate of musicians centered around the person of Glen Johnson, whom Allmusic writer Kevin Taylor calls “the most important figure to emerge from the British indie music scene since My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields.” However, as this Wikipedia article points out, the band began as a trio and then progressed […]

I had the chance to fill in a slot last week on ZBC, so I used the opportunity to collect some of my favorite vocalists in one place. Unfortunately only the first hour of the show was successfully captured by the ZBC archive machine. The show is a bit all over the place (more so […]

This week’s show is split into two very different halves. The first is all about rock ‘n’ roll energy and some newer pop stuff, the second is low key and moody and maybe a bit less accessible. But the big hits according to the audience all came later in the show: lots of phone calls […]

Dälek is a band I ignored for too long. I saw them live at the suggestion of a friend and they blew me away, but I didn’t buy one of their records. I heard songs here and there that I liked on mix tapes, but I didn’t bother to find out where they came from, […]

Still trying to incorporate more rap and R&B into the show to varying degrees of success. I found out about J Dilla so late that I have my plate full just trying to catch up with him. Nevermind all the Madlib that’s coming out. If anyone wants to point me in one direction or another, […]

A quick lesson in Italian popular music history: Lucio Battisti is apparently one of that country’s greatest pop/rock legends. I found Anima Latina after scouring a few blogs and downloaded it because the album cover was great. Turns out the music is great, too. The title track from this album is featured in this week’s […]

Disappointed with last night’s episodes of Lost? So was I. After catching up with the show and falling in love with its various time travel absurdities and completely stupefying mysteries, I almost feel a little betrayed. I guess it’s stupid to be angry at a show for ruining a great character, especially when there’s an […]

I’m a little confused about Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new album because retailers around Boston (Newbury Comics) are listing it as a new release this year. Everything I can find on the internet tells me it came out in December of 2009, but maybe the US domestic release date wasn’t until January? It’s one of those records […]

Hello! Just want to let everyone know that Laughter will now be broadcast on Tuesday mornings at 10 am EST on 90.3FM in Boston, MA. I’m typically on Monday mornings, but with each new semester comes a new time slot, new DJs, and new shows. I will be on during the same hours, just a […]